MICK Norcross spoke to the Echo's Katy Pearson back in 2018 when he spoke of his inspiration in life, the person he looked up and the things he enjoyed most. 

Katy asked Mick was asked who he looked up to. 

He said: "Only my dad. He’s not with me anymore, unfortunately, neither is mum, but there was a time when he was alive, and I wouldn’t make a decision without a conversation with him.

"Unfortunately, when he died, you have to make them on your own, but I always sleep on a decision before making it, to give me time to think on how he would deal with this or that. I never aspired to be rich and famous, I’ve only aspired to want to be successful and that was my dad. Initially, he was at sea, in the Navy.

"As a chief officer. And then he came ashore and was a managing director of a cargo securing company, in Tilbury Docks – so that’s where I started in Tilbury Docks, working in the shipyards.

He was asked where his favourite place in Essex was. 

Echo: Businessman - Mick NorcrossBusinessman - Mick Norcross

He told us: I used to love going to Leigh and walking through the old town and going down by the cockle sheds, but since being on the TV and since being involved with the Grand, there are unfortunately some people there who might want to point the finger. So, it becomes very difficult to put yourself into a public arena, especially when you’re with your children. So, my favourite place now is somewhere remote. I love to go to Coalhouse Fort in East Tilbury with the kids. I went there as a kid and I take my kids there and take my grandchildren.

He also lifted the lid on his appearances on Towie.

Echo: Mick Norcross at the Sugar HutMick Norcross at the Sugar Hut

He said: "My son [Kirk] and I were part of the show for a couple of years but it was very demanding.

"And what it did to me as a person was quite a strange thing, taking me from somebody nobody really knows to somebody that everyone knows because you’re a household name so to speak.

"But it was a decision I took just to try to manoeuvre the business - the Sugar Hut - in the right way, I needed it to be portrayed in the right light and being part of the show that was the only way I could do that."

Asked what he was most proud of, he told us: "To be honest with you, if I look out of my kitchen window at the moment I can see the rooftops of seven houses and there’s another big phase being built behind it.

"I bought a piece of land there, eleven years ago, it was a real scruffy piece of land, and to manage to turn that into something, to work on it for many years and get planning for it.

"It’s a great financial achievement of course, but it’s more than that. I’ve actually done that. Nobody did it for me.

"I’ve done that and I’m proud of it. And my family will all know for many years to come, that I was the person that developed it, so that’s my best achievement. Though, I suppose I have to say that’s second to my children, of course."